Support NeoGAF

AranhaHunter · Dec 13, 2011

With all this talk about Naughty Dog and some debates I had the past couple of days over Jak 4 I was wondering about sales for ND's games, so I did some research and first I see this, from the last of us PR

The Last of Us is developed by some of the industry most talented game designers including Bruce Straley, game director, and Neil Druckmann, creative director. Naughty Dog advanced to the forefront of the videogame industry in 1996 with the successful introduction of Crash Bandicoot on the original PlayStation. The developer extended the franchise with Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped and Crash Team Racing, selling 22 million copies worldwide and led to Naughty Dog being the most successful video game developer in the United States for that console generation. The team then created the Jak and Daxter franchise including Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy®, Jak II, Jak 3 and Jak X: Combat Racing. All four of titles are PlayStation®2 Greatest Hits. In 2007 the team released UNCHARTED: Drakes Fortune® and followed with UNCHARTED2: Among Thieves and the recent November launch of UNCHARTED 3: Drakes Deception. Having currently sold over 13 million units worldwide, the UNCHARTED franchise represents some of the most impressive graphics, sound and processing capabilities found on PS3.

I thought it was weird that they mentioned sales of the Crash and Uncharted franchise, but not Jak.

Then I go to SCEWWS website and see this:

Naughty Dog has built a solid reputation for consistently producing award winning best-sellers across a number of genres over the past 15 years. Its first major success came with the "Crash Bandicoot" franchise on the original PlayStation®in the mid 1990s. After becoming part of SCE in 2001, Naughty Dog created its next big-hitting game with "Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy", which served as the foundation for a PlayStation®2 franchise based on the adventures of these two unlikely heroes. In late 2007, Naughty Dog released its debut PLAYSTATION®3 title, "UNCHARTED: Drake's Fortune®", kicking off a franchise whose highly-anticipated second title, "UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves", was released in the Fall of 2009. To date, Naughty Dog has sold over 40 million units, totalling over USD $1 billion in sales.

This suggests to me that Crash sold 22 million between the 4 games they made, Uncharted sold 13 million on the 3 games they made for a total of 35 million between those two franchises. That means that 4 Jak games sold ~5 million copies (1.2 million per game). Unless I'm missing something here, then Jak franchise has significantly worse than I thought it did. Not a complete bomba, but the average in sales is significantly worse than the other two franchises.

ItWasMeantToBe19 · Dec 13, 2011

I think Jak 1 sold either 5m or 8m and the sequels sold 2m.

sixteen-bit · Dec 13, 2011

Daxter sold like 2 million alone right? (thanks in partial to being a pack-in)

Not a Naughty dog game though.

Takao · Dec 13, 2011

No, I believe the entire franchise is above that. However, from what I remember, each entry was in decline so sales were Jak & Daxter 1 >> Jak 2 >> Jak 3, etc. I don't believe there was ever any growth there like there was with Crash or Uncharted.

Danielsan · Dec 13, 2011

All 3 games sold at least enough to go Platinum/Greatest hits. I highly doubt they sold poorly.

Nirolak · Dec 13, 2011

My guess would be that the SCE Worldwide Studios site has Naughty Dog's shipments prior to Uncharted 3 given that it does not list the game in its description of the studio.

That would put the four games at around 8-10 million.

sajj316 · Dec 13, 2011

It sold well but not well enough to be positioned in PR speak. To go from 22 to 5 to 13 would be awkward.

diffusionx · Dec 13, 2011

Whereas Crash and Uncharted are both premier franchises on their platforms, I always thought of the Jak games as inessential "filler" titles on the PS2. Good or very good, but overshadowed. This does not surprise me.

kswiston · Dec 13, 2011

I think in the US the Jak and Daxter trilogy outsold the Uncharted trilogy. Worldwide is probably a different story.

Edit: the only numbers I can find for the Jak games are from the-magicbox.com. I am not sure how reliable they are, but GAF used to get full NPD lists during that time era, so I don't see why they would be that far off the mark.

This is what they list:

Jak & Daxter - 2.01M
Jak II - 1.57M
Jak III - 1.23M

I am sure there are Gaffers that could confirm if that is in the right ballpark

The Crash series definitely outsold both though. Maybe both combined in the US.

SuicidalSteve · Dec 13, 2011

it will certainly go up once the HD releases are out

bigtroyjon · Dec 13, 2011

Nirolak said:
My guess would be that the SCE Worldwide Studios site has Naughty Dog's shipments prior to Uncharted 3 given that it does not list the game in its description of the studio.

That would put the four games at around 8-10 million.

Might not even have all of the Uncharted sales included based on this at the bottom of the page

©2009 Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.

mik83kuu · Dec 13, 2011

I love these "I think" responses. They sure bring a lot to this thread.

krae_man · Dec 13, 2011

Danielsan said:
All 3 games sold at least enough to go Platinum/Greatest hits. I highly doubt they sold poorly.

Wasn't the minimum for that like 400k or something?

Princess Skittles · Dec 13, 2011

But they made Jak 2 all extreme and angry and attitude, that means instance millions!

Never forget.

Xater · Dec 13, 2011

Princess Skittles said:
But they made Jak 2 all extreme and angry and attitude, that means instance millions!

Never forget.

First of all it was not all that "extreme" and it was still an awesome game.

Derrick01 · Dec 13, 2011

Xater said:
First of all it was not all that "extreme" and it was still an awesome game.

But I wanted another run and jump game!

no I didn't, jak 2 was amazing

sixteen-bit · Dec 13, 2011

diffusionx said:
Whereas Crash and Uncharted are both premier franchises on their platforms, I always thought of the Jak games as inessential "filler" titles on the PS2. Good or very good, but overshadowed. This does not surprise me.

Makes sense. Anecdotal, but even I own a couple of ND's CB games, one Uncharted game, but no J&Ds.

Fuzzy · Dec 13, 2011

kswiston said:
I think in the US the Jak and Daxter trilogy outsold the Uncharted trilogy. Worldwide is probably a different story.

Edit: the only numbers I can find for the Jak games are from the-magicbox.com. I am not sure how reliable they are, but GAF used to get full NPD lists during that time era, so I don't see why they would be that far off the mark.

This is what they list:

Jak & Daxter - 2.01M
Jak II - 1.57M
Jak III - 1.23M

I am sure there are Gaffers that could confirm if that is in the right ballpark

The Crash series definitely outsold both though. Maybe both combined in the US.

Roughly 4M for those three games in the US is correct but I won't confirm/deny those individual numbers.

Limanima · Dec 13, 2011

I don't know about the sales, but The Perscursor Legacy was a fantastic game.

revolverjgw · Dec 13, 2011

You have to factor in how many millions Way of the Warrior sold

ascii42 · Dec 13, 2011

Danielsan said:
All 3 games sold at least enough to go Platinum/Greatest hits. I highly doubt they sold poorly.

Titles only had to hit 400,000 to go greatests hits. Early on it was only 250,000. On the PS2, that wasn't hard to hit. There are very few Sony published titles that didn't go Greatest Hits.

Lijik · Dec 13, 2011

Xater said:
First of all it was not all that "extreme" and it was still an awesome game.

It checks virtually every "Darker,edgier, MORE EXTREME" checkbox you could ever check.
Jesus it even had a fucking skatepark, not even Shadow the Hedgehog added a skatepark.

That it was a good game in spite of that doesn't make it any less "extreme" compared to what Jak 1 was.

graywolf323 · Dec 13, 2011

honestly I didn't like the way they took the series after Jak & Daxter 1 so doesn't shock me

Ratchet & Clank was a better series >_>

Takao · Dec 13, 2011

_dementia said:
Makes sense. Anecdotal, but even I own a couple of ND's CB games, one Uncharted game, but no J&Ds.

Haven't bought an XSEED game, hasn't bought a Jak game.

Son, I am disappoint.

Globox_82 · Dec 13, 2011

There was an inrview with one of ND guys. Where he says first one sold amazingly well 5+m.
Then each sequel sold less, drastically. People don't care about platformers any more unless it's Mario.

Ken Masters · Dec 13, 2011

Globox_82 said:
There was an inrview with one of ND guys. Where he says first one sold amazingly well 5+m.
Then each sequel sold less, drastically. People don't care about platformers any more unless it's Mario.

it sold drastically less because it was radically different from the first one which people loved, the second one I could spend more then 4-5 hours on

Chris R · Dec 13, 2011

Ken Masters said:
it sold drastically less because it was radically different from the first one which people loved, the second one I could spend more then 4-5 hours on

Exactly. I still don't know why they made the change, the first J&D was sooooo good.

Hot Coldman · Dec 13, 2011

rhfb said:
Exactly. I still don't know why they made the change, the first J&D was sooooo good.

It was a weird time for games. Prince of Persia suffered the same shit.

djtiesto · Dec 13, 2011

Green Scar said:
It was a weird time for games. Prince of Persia suffered the same shit.

The origins of dudebro.

Derrick01 · Dec 13, 2011

rhfb said:
Exactly. I still don't know why they made the change, the first J&D was sooooo good.

Because 2 and 3 ended up better.

Granted not because of the angst, but the missions had lots of variety and there was still plenty of platforming in them.

ascii42 · Dec 13, 2011

rhfb said:
Exactly. I still don't know why they made the change, the first J&D was sooooo good.

After GTA III came out, there was a law that stated that every game released the next couple years had to take inspiration from it.

Acrylic7 · Dec 13, 2011

Jak2 is one of the ps2's greatest games ever.
There, I said it.

Shtof · Dec 13, 2011

Acrylic7 said:
Jak2 is one of the ps2's greatest games ever.
There, I said it.

This is common knowledge, thank you. It's also on of best platformers ever made.

Dennis · Dec 13, 2011

I seem to recall a time when Jak and Daxter was a pretty damn big deal.

Takao · Dec 13, 2011

Shtof said:
This is common knowledge, thank you. It's also on of best platformers ever made.

Jak II is rarely a platformer.

Chris R · Dec 13, 2011

Green Scar said:
It was a weird time for games. Prince of Persia suffered the same shit.

You are right, and I never really saw that until now (great first game followed by games that changed the formula for the worse). And I mean I guess you could try and "blame" GTA for J&D 2, but didn't PoP release a few years after GTA III anyways?

mysticwhip · Dec 13, 2011

Acrylic7 said:
Jak2 is one of the ps2's greatest games ever.
There, I said it.

Oh yeah.

Shtof · Dec 13, 2011

rhfb said:
You are right, and I never really saw that until now (great first game followed by games that changed the formula for the worse). And I mean I guess you could try and "blame" GTA for J&D 2, but didn't PoP release a few years after GTA III anyways?

Yeah, but J&D was open world too. Jak 2 is just bigger. Next thing you know, GTA is also the reason Arkham City has a bigger world than Arkham Asylum.

AranhaHunter · Dec 13, 2011

Fuzzy said:
Roughly 4M for those three games in the US is correct but I won't confirm/deny those individual numbers.

Do you actually know the numbers or you're just saying that just because?

fernoca · Dec 13, 2011

Shtof said:
Yeah, but J&D was open world too. Jak 2 is just bigger. Next thing you know, GTA is also the reason Arkham City has a bigger world than Arkham Asylum.

Though back then, Jason Rubin (I think it was) specifically pointed to GTAIII.
Jak and Daxter was released 2 months, after a back then "unknown" game called GTAIII; was getting media attention for the "violence" and "you can kill people" and "hookers". It was the game that made many people notice the PS2; while the Jak (the exclusive first party game) was getting ignored.

The game still did quite well; but many of the changes (like with Prince of Persia) were apparently because of the now "interest" into "mature games".
Kinda like how in this gen, many are (still) aiming to be "the next Call of Duty".

Ken Masters · Dec 13, 2011

rhfb said:
Exactly. I still don't know why they made the change, the first J&D was sooooo good.

GTA:Jak, it lost all the charm from J&D and all the fun. I've never played Jak 3 so I don't know how it compares to Jak 1 and 2

Globox_82 · Dec 13, 2011

Ken Masters said:
GTA:Jak, it lost all the charm from J&D and all the fun. I've never played Jak 3 so I don't know how it compares to Jak 1 and 2

Jak 3 had some annoying moments with driving, but it was still very solid game and conclusion to that trilogy. From what I remember, and it has been many many years first one was my favorite as well but I never considered other not to be good. It just felt like natural evolution.

Data West · Dec 14, 2011

First Jak was bleh. Feels like generic PS platformer without cool gimmicks like Ratchet's guns.

Extreme or not, the second and third were far better. Unlike Prince of Persia, Warrior Within just sucked. Two Thrones was fun.

elohel · Dec 14, 2011

how many people here played uncharted as their first ND game?

just curious

it was my first ND series, only tried their other games

CarbonatedFalcon · Dec 14, 2011

Globox_82 said:
Jak 3 had some annoying moments with driving, but it was still very solid game and conclusion to that trilogy. From what I remember, and it has been many many years first one was my favorite as well but I never considered other not to be good. It just felt like natural evolution.

Jak 3 I thought was better than Jak 2. Larger world, more interesting powers.

Acrylic7 · Dec 14, 2011

CarbonatedFalcon said:
Jak 3 I thought was better than Jak 2. Larger world, more interesting powers.

what?

need I remind you of Haven City!

BoilersFan23 · Dec 14, 2011

CarbonatedFalcon said:
Jak 3 I thought was better than Jak 2. Larger world, more interesting powers.

I agree. I had a few issues with Jak II, but Jak 3 fixed all issues I had.

NBtoaster · Dec 14, 2011

Acrylic7 said:
what?

need I remind you of Haven City!

Haven city is smaller but you also have the other city and the desert.

Acrylic7 · Dec 14, 2011

NBtoaster said:
Haven city is smaller but you also have the other city and the desert.

fuck that desert

and are you sure Haven city wasn't bigger. I remember it being pretty big compared to jak 3

NBtoaster · Dec 14, 2011

Acrylic7 said:
fuck that desert

and are you sure Haven city wasn't bigger. I remember it being pretty big compared to jak 3

That's what I was saying, Haven is smaller in Jak 3.

The desert is pretty big but there's not much to do other than racing or the 'find the orb' challenges.

Support NeoGAF

Jak and Daxter franchise sold poorly?

Banned

Banned

Member

Banned

Member

Mrgrgr

Member

Gold Member

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Member

Prince's's 'Skittle's

Member

Banned

Member

I would bang a hot farmer!

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Banned

Banned

Member

Banned

is beloved, despite what anyone might say

Banned

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Banned

Member

Banned

Member

Banned

Member

Banned

Banned

coaches in the WNBA

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Similar threads